Section 20:1–8

The Jewish leaders challenged Jesus’ authority

In this paragraph the Jewish leaders asked Jesus what authority he had to do the things that he had been doing. They implied by their question in 20:2 that God had not authorized Jesus to do and say what he did.

Jesus replied by asking the leaders who gave John the Baptizer his authority. His question implied that both he and John got their authority from God. The leaders did not want to admit that God had given John his authority, because they did not believe John’s teaching. But they did not want to say that his authority was only from human beings, because they were afraid that the people would stone them. So they said that they did not know where John’s authority came from.

Because the leaders refused to say what they believed about John, Jesus also said that he would not tell them about his own authority. He knew that they would not accept his answer, because they were questioning him with evil motives. However, in Section 20:9–19, he revealed the answer in a parable.

Examples of headings for this section are:

The Authority of Jesus Questioned (New International Version)
-or-
The Jewish leaders did not believe that Jesus came with God’s authority
-or-
Jewish Leaders Question Jesus (New Century Version)

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 21:23–27 and Mark 11:27–33.

Paragraph 20:1–8

20:1a–b

One day: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as One day refers to one of the days when Jesus was teaching in the temple, as described in 19:47–48. It probably refers to the day after he cleared the temple (19:45–46).

This verse begins with a Greek phrase that means “and it happened.” It introduces the new event in 20:1–8. Here is another way to translate this:

Now it happened that one day while he was teaching (New Jerusalem Bible)

Many English versions do not translate this phrase, since One day is a natural way to introduce the event. Introduce the event in a natural way in your language.

as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the gospel: Here the words teaching and proclaiming the gospel probably describe the same action. The expression proclaiming the gospel is more specific than teaching. It describes what Jesus taught the people. Another way to translate this is:

when Jesus was in the Temple teaching the people about the Good News

in the temple courts: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as in the temple courts is the same as “the temple courts” mentioned in 19:45a. It refers to the open area around the temple building. Refer back to it in a natural way in your language. See temple, Meaning 1, in the Glossary.

proclaiming the gospel: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as proclaiming the gospel means “speak/tell good news.” This word refers to the good news about the kingdom of God.

Some ways to translate this word are:

preaching the good/sweet news ⌊to the people⌋
-or-
telling ⌊the people⌋ the good news ⌊about the kingdom⌋
-or-
he was telling the message/report that causes joy

Be sure that the term you choose does not refer only to a news report. Also, do not use a word like “story” if it refers only to a story that is not true.

20:1c

the chief priests and scribes, together with the elders, came up to Him: The three groups of men listed here came to Jesus in an official way as leaders of the Jewish people. In this context the phrase together with has the same meaning as “and.” Some other ways to translate this part of the verse are:

the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
the chief priests and the scribes, and the elders of the Jews went to him

the chief priests and scribes: The Greek terms that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the chief priests and scribes occurred in 19:47b–d. See the note there.

the elders: The phrase the elders refers to respected leaders among the Jewish people. In this context it probably refers to the same group as the “leaders of the people” in 19:47b–d. They were probably members of the Jewish high court (the Sanhedrin) who were not chief priests or teachers of the law.

In some languages a literal translation of elders may not imply that the men were leaders. If that is true in your language, you may need to translate in a different way. For example:

the ⌊other Jewish⌋ leaders
-or-
other leading men among the people

20:1d

came up to Him: The phrase came up to Him indicates that they approached Jesus and stood by him. They were probably already in the crowd before they came closer to Jesus to speak to him. The Greek verb that is used here sometimes implies hostility. For example:

confronted (New American Standard Bible)

For another suggestion, see the note on “they said” in 20:2a.

© 2009, 2010, 2013 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.